Turkey is the real threat not …FYROM!

Demetrios Rhompotis

In anticipation of the rally in front of the United Nations for Macedonia’s name and sake, I will put on the table a name proposed by Greece’s top comedian George Mitsikostas. He said that we should call our northern neighbor …Nia, like Nia Vardalos! This way both Greece’s and FYROM’s sensitivities would be taken into consideration and everybody should be happy!

In fact, I think we can take it a step further, if not lower, and use the diminutive of the diminutive Nia which in Greek is …Nitsa, a name that even sounds Slavic enough, making it clear that FYROM’s Slavs have nothing to do with Alexander the Great, his father Philip and his mother Olympias, whom the Albanians consider of their stock, making a laughingstock of both Greeks and Slavic Macedonians who fight for a chunk of history and ancestors that are …Albanian by birthright!

To them, it matters little that Albanians didn’t exist in the time of Alexander the Great. So didn’t Slavs and now they come with claims of their own, saying that they are the exclusive owners of that legacy because ancient Macedonians weren’t Greek! The fact that all their names, religion, customs etc. were Greek is of no importance according to them. So was Zorbas, who in fact, was a Slavic Macedonian, and who became the stereotype of the Greeks for generations. And Anthony Quinn was Mexican! History has its ways to make fun of us and this isn’t the first or the last time.

So, before things get worse, I think the rally in front of the United Nations should be about Greece’s real issue, which is Turkey and its belligerent behavior in the Aegean and Cyprus. Both Hellenic fatherlands (Greece and Cyprus) are in danger and the recent events prove that beyond doubt. Erdogan has lost it and in his fits of megalomania might provoke a military confrontation which independent of the outcome will devastate the region for generations to come.

Making sure that our country, the US, the only entity that can check Erdogan’s insanity, does the right thing must be the priority of our efforts as Americans of Hellenic (and Macedonian) descent. Let us rally, call our elected representatives, use any influence we have in order to ensure that the US won’t stand by like it did in 1974, when Turks invaded a defenseless nation with all the barbarity and cowardice their history is full of, and the world just offered anemic condemnations.

That is the real issue and that’s where we should channel our attention and effort. Now, if a bunch of Slavs and an equal number of Albanians want to believe that they are Macedonians and descendants of Alexander the Great, let them! We should be happy and we should welcome them in thinking so. As long as FYROM is willing to accept a geographical component in front of the name Macedonia which would make it clear they are not the only Macedonians (that would create problems, even in marketing Greek products abroad, like Macedonian Halva), we shouldn’t have a problem in keeping Macedonia as their name. Instead of enmity let’s apply humor (as Mitsikostas did), and let us all live happily ever after (if Turks allow it, that is)!

P.S. 1) Stupidity is a form of mental illness! And like with every mental illness, the patients think there is nothing wrong with them…

2) I tried to go public with my body, a more sophisticated way to say “sell it”, but only the medical community got intetested, to use it for experiments!!!

3) I support the natural right to bear arms …and legs!

4) The NRA is a malignant tumor! The culture of violence and death in movies, music and video games which targets our youth constantly is what feeds this cancer…